Lateral thermokarst patterns in permafrost peat plateaus in northern Norway

Subarctic peatlands underlain by permafrost contain significant amounts of organic carbon. Our ability to quantify the evolution of such permafrost landscapes in numerical models is critical for providing robust predictions of the environmental and climatic changes to come. Yet, the accuracy of large-scale predictions has so far been hampered by small-scale physical processes that create a high spatial variability of thermal surface conditions, affecting the ground thermal regime and thus permafrost degradation patterns. In this regard, a better understanding of the small-scale interplay between microtopography and lateral fluxes of heat, water and snow can be achieved by field monitoring and process-based numerical modeling. Here, we quantify the topographic changes of the Šuoššjávri peat plateau (northern Norway) over a three-year period using drone-based repeat high-resolution photogrammetry. Our results show thermokarst degradation is concentrated on the edges of the plateau, representing 77 % of observed subsidence, while most of the inner plateau surface exhibits no detectable subsidence. Based on detailed investigation of eight zones of the plateau edge, we show that this edge degradation corresponds to an annual volume change of 0.13±0.07 m3 yr−1 per meter of retreating edge (orthogonal to the retreat direction). Using the CryoGrid3 land surface model, we show that these degradation patterns can be reproduced in a modeling framework that implements lateral redistribution of snow, subsurface water and heat, as well as ground subsidence due to melting of excess ice. By performing a sensitivity test for snow depths on the plateau under steady-state climate forcing, we obtain a threshold behavior for the start of edge degradation. Small snow depth variations (from 0 to 30 cm) result in highly different degradation behavior, from stability to fast degradation. For plateau snow depths in the range of field measurements, the simulated annual volume changes are broadly in agreement with the results of the drone survey. As snow depths are clearly correlated with ground surface temperatures, our results indicate that the approach can potentially be used to simulate climate-driven dynamics of edge degradation observed at our study site and other peat plateaus worldwide. Thus, the model approach represents a first step towards simulating climate-driven landscape development through thermokarst in permafrost peatlands

Photogrammetric methods applied to Svalbard glaciers: accuracies and challenges

Use of digital images is expanding as a tool for glacier monitoring, and smallformat time-lapse cameras are increasingly being used for glacier monitoring of fast-flowing glaciers. Stereoscopic imagery is preferable since it yields direct displacement results but stereo photogrammetry has more requirements regarding geometry in set-up and control points, as well as the additional cost of another complete camera system. We investigate a combination of methods to achieve satisfactory control of accuracy with resulting significant day-to-day velocity variations ranging from 1.5-4 m day-1 made at a distance of 2 km. Validation of results was made by comparing different methods, partly using the same image material, but also in combination with aerial and satellite images. Monoscopic results can also be used to gain continuity in a stereo data set when geometry or visibility is poor. We also explore the use of ordinary photographs taken from airliners for compilation of orthoimages as a potential low cost method for detection of sudden changes. The method, showing some tens of metres accuracy, was verified for monitoring velocities and front positions during a glacier surge and was also used to validate monoscopic timelapse images.Keywords: Photogrammetry; time-lapse; orthoimage; mono- and stereoscopic; surge; velocity(Published: 12 June 2012)Citation: Polar Research 2012, 31, 18671, http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/polar.v31i0.1867

Measuring coastal cliff retreat in the Kongsfjorden area, Svalbard, using terrestrial photogrammetry

As part of the international project Arctic Coastal Dynamics, results from two sites for measuring coastal cliff retreat in the Kongsfjorden area in Svalbard (79 ° N, 13 ° E) are presented. The two sites were established in August 2002 and revisited in August 2004. Photographs with stereo coverage were taken at distances of 7 and 15 m from the cliff walls with a 60-mm Hasselblad camera mounted on a theodolite. Fixed points were established by drilling bolts into the cliff wall and were then surveyed. These fixed points were used as control points for orientation of the photogrammetric models. Digital photogrammetry applied to scanned photographs of the sites resulted in a detailed digital terrain model (DTM) for each site and year. The coastal cliff retreat rates were found by differencing the DTMs of 2002 and 2004. As a result of the short distance between camera and cliff, the DTM differencing was accurate down to 10 mm at least. The results show a yearly retreat of 2.7 and 3.1 mm. These rates are taken to be significant as most of the retreat takes place within small areas with rates well above the accuracy limits of the technique. The results are analysed and discussed in light of earlier rock-wall retreat studies in the same area

Degrading mountain permafrost in southern Norway: spatial and temporal variability of mean ground temperatures, 1999–2009

A ten-year record (1999–2009) of annual mean ground surface temperatures (MGSTs) and mean ground temperatures (MGTs) was analysed for 16 monitoring sites in Jotunheimen and on Dovrefjell, southern Norway. Warming has occurred at sites with cold permafrost, marginal permafrost and deep seasonal frost. Ongoing permafrost degradation is suggested both by direct temperature monitoring and indirect geophysical surveys. An increase in MGT at 6.6–9.0-m depth was observed for most sites, ranging from ~0.015 to ~ 0.095°C a-1. The greatest rate of temperature increase was for sites having MGTs slightly above 0°C. The lowest rate of increase was for marginal permafrost sites that are affected by latent heat exchange close to 0°C. Increased snow depths and an increase in winter air temperatures appear to be the most important factors controlling warming observed over the ten-year period. Geophysical surveys performed in 1999 to delineate the altitudinal limit of mountain permafrost were repeated in 2009 and 2010 and indicated the degradation of some permafrost over the intervening decade

Mapping of Unstable and Potentially Unstable Slopes in Sogne og Fjordane

For the past three years NGU has worked on 25 unstable and potentially unstable rock slopes in Sogn og Fjordane. In addition Fjærlandsfjord, Hyenfjord and Årdalsvatnet were systematically mapped for deposits of prehistoric and historic rock slope failures onshore and with help of a bathymetry. Mapping on land included structural mapping of ten sites by on-site field mapping and nine sites by remote structural mapping using terrestrial laser scanning technology (TLS). Field work also included periodic monitoring of 14 sites using differential Global Positioning Systems (dGPS) and TLS at 4 sites. Synthetic Aperture Radar was app lied for the entire county but slide velocities could only be mapped out at one locality at Osmundneset (Gloppen municipality). A large amount of work was carried out on the slope east of Flåm in the Aurland valley, and results have been reported separately (NGU 20 11 .025). Three large instabilities have been discovered or taken into the monitoring program. These are Osmundneset in Gloppen municipality, Skrednipa in Sogndal municipality, and the Ovris valley in Vik municipality. The largest movements with 1.5 cm horizontal and 1.5 cm vertical displacement were measured on the instability with a volume of approx. 1 Mm3 in Ovris valley. Opening of cracks has been measured at that site also in the 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s. Our data suggest a slight acceleration of this instability. Acceleration was also documented for a 100.000 m3 large instability called Lifjellet, although velocity of that site is less than half of the velocity of the block in Ovris valley. However at that site a collapse of a rockslope with a volume of 25.000 to 30.000 m3 occurred only 19 years ago. Installation of continuous monitoring and early-warning systems should be considered at both of those sites as well as at similar sites where relatively small instabilities that might fail without a long acceleration phase are positioned above settlements (Gråberget in Høyanger municipality). Similarly all other monitored instabilities in Sogn og Fjordane are in the order of mm/yr and not considered to be critical on a short term. However, periodic monitoring has to be continued. Cosmogenic nuclide dating (CN) has been applied to determine ages of rockslide deposits in Fjærlandfjord (Sogne municipality) and at the slope E of Flåm (Aurland community), resulting in Late Pleistocene and Holocene ages. CN dating has also applied to the sliding planes at Skjeringahaugane (Luste municipality). The results indicate that the movement initiated at the beginning of the Holocene and is progressive. Long term slip rates are in the same order of slip rates measured by dGPS